pbleighton

1) how do you like this treatment, does it have advantages? It's fine. 2) have you ever played this? Yes, in one current partnership 3) does 1M 4+cards mean you can open a 4card major suit with a longer minor suit? Depending on suit quality, yes. 4) playing this treatment, what's your preferred response structure after 3rd/4th hand 1M opening? a raise still promises 3+cards? Yes. We also play 2 way Drury, which I think is necessary. 5) would you play this treatment only if a) you knew the field played only 5card majors you knew the field played mostly 4card majors? Does it matter? No. General comment: I'm not usually going to open a 4cM with 15+ hcp - I will start low on good hands. I also want a strong suit to do this in the 4th seat. For me, this approach has the most value in the 3rd seat with minimum or subminimum hands. Vulnerable, we want a reasonable suit. NV, almost anything goes. Peter

Pass or 5C could be right. 5C for me - given a 50-50 choice I would rather be in game. Peter

"I tried watching Jessica Simpson's "these boots are made for walking" but after watching the video twice in succession, I decided I was in danger of becoming a pervert" Twice? Your head is already permanently lodged in her undercarriage :lol: Peter

"Nobody here would dare to suggest that a US organization should base their policies on what is happening in the rest of the world." Of course they wouldn't. Why would we want to expose our players to a convention which is very popular internationally? International "bridge" competition is a game for deviants - the only real bridge is played in the U.S.A. We have to keep up standards! Peter

5D, though 4D has its merits. Peter

1NT, but 1S is OK. I wouldn't double. If pd responds 2H as expected, he wil expect 5 cards for 2S, and there won't be enough room to show him otherwise. Peter

4H. Pd must have a BIG hand, and he knows you can't have much. Peter

"To not bid 3 clubs with the north hand is a lie imo. It's a unilateral decision, a failure to communicate the value of your hand to partner, and an action that doesn't permit partner to be part of the decision-making process regarding where the hand should ultimately play." Agree completely. As to opening 1NT - as someone else said, it's a style thing. OK either way. Peter

Form of scoring matters here. At MPs, I double, at IMPs, I bid 4C. If pd pulls a double, she has lots of clubs and one trick at most outside of clubs. Peter

I love 4m openers in the first seat NV. I've done it with a 6 card suit and nothing. It really puts the opps in a pickle. Peter

"You cannot say Agassi didn't have the will to win. He's probably the player who has this will to win more than anyone." Agassi has the will to win, but the will to win is not enough by itself. He is 35 years old, with a mediocre serve, by the standards of today's tour. I am not saying there is no difference in shotmaking ability between the top 5 players on the tour and the second hundred. There is some difference, but mental toughness, the ability to make the shots under pressure, accounts for most of the difference in results. Have you ever seen pros practice? They are all pretty awesome - not absolutely equal, but more so than in tournaments, especially big tournaments. I'll give you two examples from tennis history: Jimmy Connors (who I loathed) was one of the greatest players in tennis history. His overall shotmaking ability (apart from return of serve), was nothing special, but was he ever tough. Arthur Ashe (my favorite player growing up) had better shots - a super serve, excellent volleying and court speed, and the best backhand on the tour. He won some big tournaments, but he lost a LOT of semifinal and final matches. He goes down in history as a lesser player than Connors, though his tools were better. Peter

A close call. My preference is 4C. 1C, 3C, and 5C are possible, though 3C is chicken. I would NEVER pass this hand. The bridge gods don't deal you good 7 card suits at favorable vulnerability so that you can pass. Peter

"Not sure if this is true, my impression was Sampras, and now Federer, were/are just better than their competitors skill wise." Sampras did have the best serve in tennis, but... In tennis, what separates the champions from the rest is that they play as well (mostly meaning make their best shots consistently) in a match as they play in practice, and as well (or better) in a Grand Slam final. Everyone else's play degrades under pressure. Peter (whose play degraded)

Caveat: I'm 50, so it's been a LONG time since I've had any idea what's cool. But I do know campy. THIS IS REALLY, REALLY, REALLY CAMPY!!! Unfortunately, I'm sure it's quite unintentional, unless it was done by a mole from the Chess Youth Outreach. The fight for market share is eternal. Peter

This is totally unoriginal, but.. You can ask the same question about Joe Montana, Pete Sampras, etc. The answer IMO is primarily mental toughness (maybe "moving on to the next board"). Peter

(1) Forcing 1NT response. A lot of times this means you get to play 5-2 major fit instead of 1NT. Is this usually better or worse? How much so? If forcing 1NT wasn't needed to make the rest of the system hold together (i.e. 1NT response always 6-9) should we still play it? I have read that someone did a simulation and found that 5-2 major suit fits play as well as 1NT, in those contracts. Of course, there are other contracts which play worse. FWIW, I don't think NT fording is a good idea if you don't need it. (2) Keri over 1NT. This structure often leads to playing 2M in a 4-3 instead of playing 2NT. Is that an improvement? Worse? About the same? I haven't played Keri, but I have played a 4cM system where we always raised on 3, and played in a lot of Moysians. I think 2M on a Moysian is a little better than 2NT. (3) Raising partner's response on three cards. If I routinely bid 2♥ on auctions like 1♣-1♥ on three cards, we will play some moysian heart fits when others are in 1NT. Are we likely to score better or worse doing this, assuming best play and defense? See Richard's response. (4) Correcting to 2M after partner's 1NT rebid. Suppose we hear 1♣-1♥-1NT. Assuming that partner almost always raises on three cards and almost never rebids 1NT on stiff, should I bid 2♥ frequently on a five-card suit? What will happen to my score if we do? Your score will vary :) I would look at suit quality. I think that simulations are of limited use on this subject, though they would certainly be interesting. Complaring 1NT to 2M (either 5-2 or 4-3) begs a lot of questions: Are you allowed to play in 1NT? Is there a difference in the defense? And most importantly, what does the 2M bid do to the opps bidding. Very tough to simulate. I think that Moysians are "theoretically" unsound, but are quite practical at the table. Peter

Michael: Thanks for the writeup. The non-jump 2 bids seem to be the weak point of the system, as they are so wide ranging. pigpenz: Your modification of 1-2-3 is interesting. I believe that at this point they are not GCC legal, however, and aren't even Mid Chart legal if 4-4. Peter

"I wouldn't but vulnerable maybe some north's could open 2♠" I would in my current system, but with standard openers I think you have to bid 1S. Peter

I haven't been able to find Eric Landau's book anywhere. I have been playing 5 card weak twos for a couple of years, and am curious about "EHAA defense". Can anyone describe the EHAA overcall/double system for me? I understand the 2 level overcalls are similar to the EHAA weak twos. If that is correct, what do the one and three level overcalls, doubles and cuebids mean? If you have played it, how were the results? Peter

The double of 5H was bad at IMPs, IMO. I would do it at MPs, though. Your West probably should have bid 5H, especially at IMPs, though this may be double-dummy bidding :P Peter

"You sometimes superaccept with 3-card support Peter?" Never. Well, maybe with AKx or KQJ :) It is still nice to know that pd has a max and good trump support, and an 80% chance of a doubleton. With this holding, if pd super-accepted, wouldn't you make a slam try? Peter

I agree with Luis: 4D is a bad bid. 4H was responder's best rebid. Also - this hand is a good argument for super-accepts. Peter

"As an aside, we now play that a X of any overcall of a big C is a balanced/semi balanced gf." Ron: What do you do with invitational hands (~5-7 opposite a 16+ club)? Peter

1S. You have a good hand and the boss suit. If you want to preempt with hands that the field is not preempting with, do it with bad hands, not good ones. And try to do it when you're not vulnerable :) Peter

Clear pass, IMO. Peter